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Ken Schroeder (above) was part of the team from Blach Construction that worked with teachers and staff on the plans to incorporate sustainable features like operable windows, skylights and a rain screen into the $26.8 million Multidisciplinary Arts Complex at San Jose City College.

“This process was unique in that we were able to discuss structural and safety issues during the course of the design,” said project executive Ken Schroeder, who oversaw the Multidisciplinary Arts Complex project’s design phase, which included a period during which the college changed both its chancellor and its president. Despite the upheaval, the project is slated to be ready a full semester earlier than initially planned.

One of the factors that propelled the project along so smoothly was 3-D modeling, which allows problems to be worked out during the design phase. The process “actually puts every nut and bolt that you want into 3-D modeling,” he explained. “It takes the conceptual and puts it into an actual situation you’d run into in the field.”

For example, Schroeder said, the modeling showed details such as the foundations and steel work “with all the sizes and shapes planned out and ready to hand to the subcontractors,” thus allowing bids to be tighter and faster.

Teachers and staff were able to weigh in on the things that were really important to them in a building. The results, Schroeder said, include simple things like operable windows that allow fresh air into the classrooms. “They’re not just in a box; they have control over their environment.”

He said there are carpets made from recycled products. “There isn’t the chemical smell. When you walk into a building it smells clean.”

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